The iNaturalist Network is a localised experience that is fully connected to the global iNaturalist community. Network members are local institutions that promote local use and facilitate the use of data from iNaturalist to benefit local
The aim of this report is to give an account of the importance of the iNaturalist network members by analysing the number of records for each country.
Members of the iNaturalist Network. Shown in green are the sites from Latin America
#
Site
Name
ID
1
Global
iNaturalist
1
2
Mexico
iNaturalistMX
2
3
New Zealand
iNaturalistNZ
3
4
Canada
iNaturalist.ca
5
5
Colombia
NaturalistaCO
6
6
Portugal
BioDiversity4All
8
7
Australia
iNaturalistAU
9
8
Panama
iNaturalistPa
13
9
Ecuador
iNaturalistEc
14
10
Israel
iNaturalistil
15
11
Argentina
ArgentiNat
16
12
Costa Rica
NaturalistaCR
17
13
Chile
iNaturalistCL
18
14
Finland
iNaturalistFi
20
15
Sweeden
iNaturalist.Se
21
16
Spain
Natusfera
22
17
Greece
iNaturalistGR
23
18
Guatemala
iNaturalistGT
24
19
United Kingdom
iNaturalistUK
25
20
Luxembourg
iNaturalist.LU
26
21
Taiwan
iNaturalistTW
27
22
Uruguay
NaturalistaUY
28
Methods
We tested different explanatory variables and saw which is the model that best explains the values a country has for iNaturalist. Indicators per country were extracted using the WDI: World Development Indicators (World Bank) on the 26th of September, 2025.
Response variables:
total number of records on iNaturalist per country: n_records_inat.
proportion of records from iNaturalist on GBIF per country (proxy for quality, research- grade records): p_gbif.
number of users recording in the country (this is not exactly the users from the country, but users that have generated records in the country): n_users.
number of taxa recorded in the country (this is not necessarily at the species level): n_taxa.
Explanatory variables:
population of the country: population (SP.POP.TOTL).
area of the country in km2: area (AG.SRF.TOTL.K2).
country’s centroid latitude (as a proxy of expected biodiversity): latitude (using rnaturalearth country polygons).
GDP per capita: gdp_per_capita (NY.GDP.PCAP.CD).
% of the GDP of the country dedicated to research: gdp_in_researchGB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS).